Here’s another product you should consider: Addiction, based in New Zealand, offers a range of dog food products, but the ones I’ve tried on Chloe are from its line of dehydrated raw food. She likes both “Fig’licious Venison Feast” and “Perfect Summer Brushtail,” and if Chloe likes them, your dog may well adore them. They both rehydrate rapidly and smell appealing. Portion sizes are small (about 1/2 c. per day for a dog Chloe’s size), so dog food won’t take up much of your packing space. Addiction’s only drawback is that it’s pricey (by this point, however, I’d pay for larks’ tongues, if Chloe would eat them reliably).

I was interested, by the way, to learn that the Australian Brushtail Possum is the kudzu of New Zealand — the critters were introduced to the country for the fur trade, and have become a serious pest. What a clever idea to address the problem by making them a key dog food ingredient!

5 comments

Great tips on this…I’m getting ready to go cross country with my chipoo Puma who has been very picky with his food. I just ordered some samples of Addiction to try…hoping it will work and settle well in the belly! Are you still using this product when you travel? Just curious since it has been awhile since this post…

Hi, Terri — It HAS been awhile, and in fact we don’t travel with a raw food product any more. I still find the raw food argument persuasive, and it seems to work well for some dogs, but we found that after a couple of months or so on each raw food product we tried, Chloe would have some kind of GI melt-down — the last one resulting in a trip to the emergency room for rehydration after she threw up so much. So we’ve backed off of raw food altogether, and now feed her the best kibble we can find. She’s also turned out to have a stomach of iron, so we rotate around an assortment of kibbles. Right now, she has Go!, Now! (both from Petcurean Pet Nutrition) and Taste of the Wild in her bin.

Thanks.so much!..this is good to know…unfortunately, Puma does badly digestively and doesn’t like any kibble so far…even the Go! and Now! products…ugh. I’ve been giving him home cooked food and his belly has completely stabilized after many months of trouble. I don’t know what to do about being on the road for 10 days one way and 10 days back, or so…I guess I should try to get him to do kibble huh? Or maybe small cans of wet food could work to split between Puma and Ziggy’s (who eats all kibble happily). Maybe a short period of the dehydrated stuff won’t hurt, but I hate to upset his now happy insides.:) especially if we are hitting the road. Thanks for the heads up on the raw stuff…I did get some Taste of the Wild, so I can give that a shot. Or maybe I will have to cook in the hotel microwaves and pack a good cooler! Yikes…

Hi, Terri — If you’re concerned about changing gears so suddenly, I think continuing the home-cooked approach, but simpler, might be your best choice. If you’re in hotels with microwaves, you could cook some ground meat and rice and carrots for him. You could even forego the cooler, and buy supplies as you stop for the evening. If you’re staying in a hotel with room service, you can get them to make his meals for you. Here’s a post from my friend Helen Fazio about her strategies for feeding Raja, her Shih Tzu, on the road: http://traveldog.weebly.com/1/post/2009/06/travel-cuisine-for-gourmet-canines.html As she points out, consider baby food for Puma — the small cans of chicken, and the little hotdogs, might be a fine, mild choice for him. Let us know what you end up doing, and how it goes — my fingers are crossed for you guys!

Thanks again for the help. I just started adding some kibble to his homemade stuff and he is eating it all up with no bad results, so far. I figure if I can get him on kibble for the trip it will be best. 🙂 And there is always the microwave option, of course! Also, he is still young, going on 10 months next week, so I’m hoping his appetite and digestion will mature along with his cute little face…:) we should be fine…I will definitely keep you posted and share any info I gather along the way.

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While I generally don't accept guest posts, reports from readers are crucial and treasured sources of information. If you have travel tips, photos, recommendations, or a personal travel story that you would like to contribute to Dog Jaunt, please send me email:[email protected]